University of Washington Ranked Top LGBTQ-Friendly College

The University of Washington is ranked as one of the top 15 best universities in the US for LGBTQ students. Over the last 20 years, universities all over the United States have started addressing the needs of lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer students, staff, and faculty. For many schools it’s about running special programs, changing public policy, and hosting student activities. That’s exactly what the University of Washington has done according to a ranking by CollegeChoice.net.

The ranking looked at universities that have a strong history of creating quality programs for the LGBTQ community. Mainly the ranking looked for schools that committed time and resources to equipping their students, staff and faculty with resources and tools for campus inclusion. The ranking started with schools ranked highly by Campus Pride and then added additional criteria such as academic reputation, student satisfaction, affordability, and return on investment.

The University of Washington ranked #15. UW is home to the Q-Center, a student-run resource center serving “anyone with or without gender sexuality.” The Center hosts student groups, holds regular events, and runs a variety of blogs. Even more, it offers a number of courses such as Queer 101 to train and provide policy advocacy and counseling to students, faculty, staff, alum, and community members. The ultimate goal of the Q-Center is to facilitate and enhance a brave, affirming, liberatory, and celebratory, environment for students, faculty, staff, and alum of all sexual and gender orientations, identities, and expressions.

According to BestColleges.com, the University of Washington ranks as the #4 most LGBTQ-friendly university in the U.S.

“The Q Center is where I really first began to make connections between my experiences ‘coming out’ and multiple interlocking systems of social oppression that have also affected me such as racism and classism. I had never before been in a space where my multiple identities were drawn out and made part of what it meant to have a ‘space’ with other people. The people I met at the Q Center were all committed to social justice principles, and my time there shaped my own ideals of what a strong, compassionate community should try to look like.” —University of Washington student, on Buzzfeed

regions: Seattle

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